IoT trends for 2017

Text written by Josefin Skarin, IoT geek at IAR Systems

Today most people use IoT products in some ways: wearables, thermostats, toothbrushes, GPS trackers etc. IoT is now a part in our daily life and the market is developing rapidly. 2016 was an IoT year focused a lot around the applications and the products. 2017 will be a year with a bigger focus on the services and the ecosystem around the IoT.

IoT will change our lives and create a connected world full of new possibilities, challenges and new exciting products and solutions. We don’t know much about the future, but we do know it will be connected, and I’m looking forward to see the merge between the physical world and the digital world.

These are some of the trends I can see for 2017:

AI (Artificial Intelligence) Machine learning is the subfield of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed, and AI is the science of making computers emulates human decision-making and learning processes. If we think about wearables of today for example, we can get information about our calorie consumption, sleep etc. If we add AI, the device will be able to analyze the data and also make decisions for you. For example, it might be able to tell you to visit your doctor if your heart rate is raising etc. AI will take position in IoT during 2017.

Personal safety This year, we will start to be more aware about how IoT products collect information about us and the safety/security questions around it. For example, there is an ongoing discussion in the US about a murder with an unusual murder witness: an Amazon echo. The police believe the device may have recorded useful evidence about the events of the evening. Questions about the IoT and our personal security are quite new for us and something I think we will see more of. (http://engt.co/2idGl0P)

IoT Healthcare The healthcare industry has been collecting data for a long time. With the IoT, this data can now be monitored and connected to the internet. During 2017 we will see more of patient monitoring and also more IoT news when it comes to elderly care.

Design The importance of design for IoT products will evolve during 2017 and has already started with for example the new Kate Spade Bangle Tracker. (http://bit.ly/2ix0MH5)

Smart cities A smart city is based on intelligent sensors and the data from these sensors can be used to create a connected city in areas such as waste management, healthcare, education, energy, public safety, air quality etc. This is not news for us IoT geeks ;) but I think (hope) it will be something we hear more about in 2017.

Are you also an IoT geek? Send me an email (josefin.skarin@iar.com) if you want to discuss IoT or have any ideas on topics for the IoT dashboard. :)